Month: August 2012

Welp, I got the job.

I start Tuesday, and there’s a lot to do between now and then, and I’m a little overwhelmed and paralyzed with indecision right now, honestly. I didn’t really expect to get an offer, and I was already making plans for my business and my writing as though I wasn’t getting it, so now I’ve got to switch gears and shift some plans around.

Part of my plans involved setting a definitive release date for Dominion and publicizing the heck out of it and pre-selling copies to help me pay for all of the stock images I’ll be using on the cover, but I guess I need to hold off on that until I figure out how to squeeze writing and editing (and publishing and book marketing) in between working full-time and continuing to freelance on nights and weekends. I might need to just put the book and the writing on hold until we get some debt paid off and I can start to taper off on the freelancing.

I know I’m sounding less than enthused about going back to work, which is not accurate, because I’m excited about this job. It’s just that I actually made some time this week for editing and writing and laying the groundwork for a publicity campaign for Dominion, and while doing all of that I’ve felt happier than I have in a long time. So the prospect of having to back-burner all of that is bumming me out a little. But maybe I won’t have to. Maybe I can figure out a way to fit it in with a little more juggling. I’m sure that once I get used to the new routine it will be easier to see where to slot it all into my schedule.

But all of that aside: I got a job, you guys! A job doing code and writing copy and not doing anything at all secretarial! Yaaaaaay! And the dress code appears to be on the more casual end of “business casual” so I don’t have to go further into debt to get a new work wardrobe. I’ll have to pay for downtown parking at first, but in a few weeks the office is moving to a new location that will have plenty of free parking. And they don’t open till 9 AM, so I don’t have to get up super early. And it’s only a 10 to 15 minute commute each way.

This is going to be a good job. Yay!

Well, yesterday I had my job interview at the web & marketing agency. It seemed to go well — they liked my quirky personality and my writing and editing background, but they were less than enthused about my lack of solid programming experience. They said I still have a shot, but they need to weigh the pros and cons of having someone on staff who can write and edit copy but is only really half a programmer, vs. someone who’s really good at programming and can dive right in to their big queue of projects that need to be coded. Which is understandable.

The place had a fun, geeky-hipster vibe and it did feel like a great fit, personality-wise, and they’re getting ready to move into an office in the hipster/yuppie district of downtown that sounds like my dream office. And I would definitely have plenty of opportunity to grow my skills as a developer. The starting pay is less than I was hoping for, but there would be opportunity for raises as I increase my skills and prove myself, and they’re cool with me continuing to freelance on the side for extra income as long as I don’t do it on company time or with company equipment (natch).

The only real con that’s making me hesitant about it is that they don’t have a group insurance plan. They do help cover premiums for individual plans, but we were really hoping for a group plan. I’d like for there to at least be an option for maternity coverage if I ever need it, for one thing, and Matt really wants to get off of Medicare before it goes all to heck. So on that count, I’m a little torn as to whether I should just keep looking. But in all other respects this sounds like a dream job, so if I do get an offer I’ll most likely take it.

I’ll be pretty surprised if I do get an offer, though. They still had two or three more candidates to interview, and it’s pretty likely that at least one of those will be more qualified than I am. If I don’t get it, at least now I have a better idea of what web-industry hirers in this town are looking for, and which areas I need to focus on in expanding my knowledge and skills. Now I just need to carve out some time to practice and build up my portfolio in those areas. Yay, yet something else I need to cram into my overflowing schedule!

To that end, I actually wrote out a weekly schedule, and gave myself Tuesday and Friday afternoons to work on my portfolio and learning new skills (I also gave myself a whole entire hour each morning for writing and editing–and was able to edit two entire chapters of Dominion this morning as a result. Yay!). Now if I can just make myself stick to the schedule and not get sidetracked, I’ll be all accomplishy and stuff.

Speaking of which, schedule says time’s up, get back to work. Anyway, thanks to everyone who sent me good wishes for the interview. Love!

I haven’t done quite as well as I hoped at sticking to my 30-minutes-a-day editing routine. It’s more like 20 to 30 minutes every couple of days or so. But at least I’ve got some forward momentum again, however sluggish the pace.

Part of the problem here is that, when I turned down that full-time data entry job in favor of the contract web developer job, what I failed to take into consideration is that with a contract freelance job, you don’t get paid just for showing up to work like you do with an office job. You instead only get paid for the actual billable work that you do, and when you’re as prone to distraction as I am, and working at home where your husband is also home all day and he and the pets and the house all need attention throughout the day, it’s really, really difficult (I just typed “fiddicult” and had to redo it) to rack up eight solid hours of billable work each day. The best I’ve been able to do so far is five or six (and really, averaging more like four or five), which leaves me having to work weekends to make up my hours. Also, when projects get stuck waiting for client feedback or for the programmer to do whatever he needs to do before I can continue, I don’t get paid for that, either. So the contract job is keeping me full-time busy but only amounting to part-time pay, which just isn’t cutting it in the “paying the bills and stopping the hemorrhage of money and getting us back on top of our finances” department. And projects from my other freelance clients have all dried up. Basically, it’s a stressful situation all the way around, and not having time to edit is really the least of my worries right now. Le sigh.
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